The primary objectives of this research are to determine what limitations are imposed on auditory analysis by otopathologies underlying sensorineural hearing loss, how those limitations are influenced by frequency selective sensitivity losses, and whether or not different limitations are imposed by different sensorineural etiologies. Limitations in auditory analysis will be inferred from psychophysical measures of auditory interference (masking) between one sound and another. To obtain estimates of limitations in auditory frequency analysis, frequency-interference patterns between tones will be measured. Levels of remote-frequency tones will be determined which just mask constant-intensity and constant-frequency probe tones; the resulting interference patterns are called isoresponse frequency masking patterns. To obtain estimates of limitations in auditory temporal analysis, temporal-interference patterns will be measured. Levels of temporally disparate tones will be determined which just mask constant-intensity and constant-frequency probe tones; the resulting masking patterns are called isoresponse temporal masking patterns. Interference patterns will be measured with forced-choice adaptive procedures in an isoresponse non-simultaneous (forward) masking paradigm. Both frequency-interference patterns and temporal interference pattern will be determined from the same sensorineural hearing-impaired listeners using probe tones at various sensation levels and frequency regions to determine whether supra-threshold sensory excitations are more vulnerable to interference in the sensorineural-impaired ear than in the normal-hearing ear. Since the measures of auditory analysis proposed here emphasize concepts of interference between one sound and another, the results of this research will have practical implications for preventative, diagnostic, and habilitative aspects of health care for the sensorineural hearing-impaired person, and in addition will aid our understanding of the mechanisms by which diseases of the ear affect the ability of human listeners to process the sounds around them, particlarly speech.